The Aruba Cloud Server service allows a VMware Cloud Server to be created using a disk image of a physical computer. There are two possibilities, depending on whether the Operating System is
Windows or
Linux.
Windows
To do this on a
Windows machine you have to perform the following steps:
- Create a disk image of the physical machine
To create disk images for a VMware environment the most comprehensive tool provided by VMware is
VMware Converter. Other simpler tools provided by VMware for the same purpose are "VMware Workstation" and "VMware Server".
The image you want to upload to the VMware Cloud Server must have the following features:
- file format
.vmdk
- must not exceed
500GB in size
- if the disk image comprises multiple files (header files and data files) checks that all the data files are present (this check is not performed for MonolithicSparse and StreamOptimized which only comprise a single file)
- the image must belong to one of these types:
MonolithicFlat, MonolithicSpars, StreamOptimized, Vmf, VmfsSparse
- the header description for the disk must be valid
- the controller must be the
LSI Logic SCSI controller Parallel type
- Uploading the disk image to the FTP area connected to your own Cloud account
Once you have logged into the Aruba Cloud Service you can upload the disk image you have just created in the physical machine to your FTP area:
click on the tab "Manage",
select from the menu on the left the heading "Import Disks" under "Template".
This section lists the login details the FTP area and the list of any uploaded disk images.
By downloading any FTP client (such as
FileZilla,
CoreFTP,
Cyberduck, etc.) and using the data available to you, you will have access to the area where you can upload images of virtual disks to be imported.
- Creating a VMware Cloud Server with a custom template
When creating a Cloud Server, when choosing the Operating System click on the tab "Custom Template".
Then click on the "Activate" button.
This will allow you to not choose the Operating System at this stage.
Then when you are prompted to indicate the size of the first hard disk click on "Connect disk".
A window will open with a list of the disk images present in the
FTP area and previously uploaded.
From the list, select the image file that you want to upload to the virtual disk making sure it is the boot.
At the end of the procedure a Cloud Server with its custom template/OS will be created.
Remember that of course it will not be possible to access to the new Cloud Server via RDP or SSH because the server has not been configured with the new IP address assigned. In order to be able to
configure the necessary IP you need to access via the
Recovery Console.
Remember that on Aruba Cloud Computing Hyper-V Cloud Servers have the following virtual hardware features:
- first IDE hard disk
- subsequent SCSI type hard disks
For physical machines structured with the above features there will be particular hardware compatibility issues; issues that could arise if disk images are created from physical machines with a different hardware structure.
Linux
In the case of exporting a disk image from a
Linux machine, there is not a generic tool that guarantees the export in a quick and simple way regardless of the Linux distribution; it is advisable to proceed as follows:
- boot from external disk (CD/DVD)
- export an image from the machine or from a command line (e.g.:dd command) or from tools (e.g.: Clonezilla, Partimage)
- upload the image to the FTP area provided by Aruba
- create a Cloud Server with a custom Template
- upload the image to the main disk
- access the Cloud Server using the Recovery Console to restore the filesystem and reconfigure the machine (operation almost certainly required)